Finale
by Shirahoshi
Summary: Ragnarök. The twilight of the gods. Odin didn't know what his actions would unleash after locking up Loki as soon as the dark elves posed no threat anymore.


They won.

They won!

Thor laughed from the depth of his heart as he pulled Jane closer into an embrace, tears of relief trickling on her face.

"Never, ever, do that again," she said, "Promise me."

"I shall not make you a promise like that. But I do promise I'll _try _my best not to do something like that again. But this time glory should go to my brother and the Lady Sif.," he said, turning.

Only that Loki wasn't standing behind him, but further away on a cliff. Jane nudged him.

"Go. Talk to him."

So he went.

"Brother."

"Thor," Loki said, for once too tired to speak the words. _I am not your brother. I never was._

Gone was the boy who adored even the poorest tricks, or the man keen on mischief.

Neither did Thor see the broken madman in him who tried to take over the planet he loved or kill those dear to him; or the one with a tongue like a whip, always hurting where they meant to, and when they wanted to, while his eyes were blazing with anger masked by an otherwise coolfaçade .

To him, Loki simply seemed to be tired...

"You have done well."

"Done well? I suppose I have."

"Come," the Thunder-god said, putting a hand onto the other's shoulder, shaking him a bit, "Don't be like that. It is a cause for joy; you have finally been redeemed!"

Other than a doubtful tremble of his lips, Loki gave no answer. Thor smiled.

"You know that Mother has always been proud of you. But if she could see you now..."

"Doubtless, she would fuss over the wounds before smacking you on the neck for bringing her along." Thor laughed.

"Indeed."

They stood in silence for a moment.

"What will happen now?"

"We'll go back to the palace, I suspect, have a feast and then after some rest, we'll go to Vanaheim. I heard there is an especially big, wild and dangerous herd of bilgesnipes."

Loki gave a small laugh.

"You forgot something. The All-Father."

"Asgard, Midgard and Alfheim would be destroyed if it wasn't for you. Besides, he did promise you freedom, didn't he? Even if it means that you have to take the Blood Oath."

"Yes," said Jane, suddenly standing behind them. "I'd vouch for you. Totally. If it wasn't for the two of you, I'd be what, dead thousand times? Besides, you aren't all that bad. Once people look over the snarky comments, the fact that you tried to conquer my home and all that. Nothing what an anger management therapy couldn't solve."

Loki's eyes narrowed.

"An anger management what?"

"Therapy. You don't have them on Asgard?"

"I'm afraid not."

"A great mistake. They helped a lot of people on Earth, and we have only decades. They could do wonders with somebody who may live millenias."

"Maybe."

The sound of armor clanging hit their ears; Odin was nearing accompanied by Sif, the Warriors Three, and a small group of guards. Thor beamed at them.

"Father. It's good to see you all."

"Seize him."

For a moment, none of them understood. Thor looked at them in confusion.

"Seize who?"

But Loki already knew the answer. Daggers materialised in his hands with a green flash, and one of them already tore into the foolish guard's throat. The other was more careful, but didn't last much longer.

The Trickster was fighting like a demon, while Jane started to scream in shock, fear and anger.

"_You can't! You can't! What the hell are you doing? Stop!_ _Thor, do something!_"

Volstagg was lying on the ground, clutching onto his abdomen while Fandrall was gasping for air.

And then Loki froze in mid-air.

Not even he was a match for Odin and Gungnir's mixed power.

Two guards moved, twisting the Jotunn's hands behind his back, clasping the heavy iron cuffs in place.

And then he could move again.

"Father, what is the meaning this?" demanded Thor.

"Isn't it obvious Thor?" spat out the black-haired demigod. "He never intended to let me go, Blood Oath, or no. Isn't it right, Odin. _Isn't it?!_"

"It is," the old Asgardian agreed. "You are too dangerous to roam free. From this day on till the end of your life you'll be confined to the Cell of Silence, bound, alone."

Thor gasped.

"No," said Jane, "Don't! Can't you see what you're doing? With this decision you'll destroy _everything_ you love!"

"You're wrong, Lady Jane; I'm doing this in the protection of the Realms and their people. Trust me, Loki is not what he pretended to be in these few days. The moment we let him go, the moment he'll spun his new lies and show a dagger into our backs. Take him away."

The guards nodded, yanking an unwilling Loki after themselves. Jane stood silent as she watched them go, before turning back to the royalties.

"Whatever he is, in the past few days he had proven himself to be a better person than the lot of

you. Somebody who is rotten to the chore will not stand between you and a firestorm. When he attempted to conquer my home, I thought you were the good guys for stopping him and making certain he won't escape. Now... I'm not so certain."

With that, she turned, walking away.

"Father, you cannot do this."

"I can and I will. You know the threat he poses. He cannot be controlled and would break his promise as soon as we turn our gaze away."

"And from whom, I wonder, did he learn that? All his life everything he wanted was to be acknowledged. Every time you gave your promise to be there for his next lesson; did you ever go to any?"

"The Kingdom's matters..."

"The Kingdom's matters could have waited! We were not at war!"

The All-Father looked weary.

"You will have to learn, Thor, that sometimes you have to sacrifice the things you love for the greater good."

"I hope that time will never come; for I have no wish to become somebody like you."

* * *

"Jane?" he knocked on the door, "Jane? Are you there?"

There was no answer.

"Jane, I swear I knew nothing about it!"

"She left fifteen minutes ago," said Sif behind him, "I thought she told you. Thor? Where are you going?"

He started running. Maybe he still could catch up with her. To explain how things were.

To save what's left.

_Now... I'm not so certain._

"Heimdall!" he roared, "Open the Bifrost!"

"If you are seeking Lady Jane, she had already left."

"I know, so open it!"

The gatekeeper looked at him.

"No."

"What? I'm your prince!"

"I know. But she requiested not to allow you to follow her."

"Why would she do that?"

"Her reasons are her own; but I must honour her requiest."

Thor had fallen to his knees.

No. This can't be. The world was so full of hope just this morning and now... Everything is lost.

"If you can... Will you send her a message?"

* * *

"_Brother? What's a sword?_" _a young Loki asked after Frigga had left, lying in the darkness, side-by side._

"_It's something you use to defeat mean people with._"

"_Like frost-giants?_"

"_Yeah._"

The treaty with Loki did not went well.

Oh, well... It was disastrous.

Maybe Sif was right and bringin the ex-Avengers, now residents of Valhalla, was a bad idea.

"Welcom to my humble tent!" the once-Trickster said, opening his arms wide. "I'm afraid we do not have the luxury you do, but it serves."

Not even Romanoff was able to hide her shock.

Loki's face looked like it had been melted; at some parts his bones were visible. The scars ran down to his neck, and no doubt continuing even there. The white of his eyes turned red, his hair mostly gone, and what remained was a sickly grey colour. His hands were hid by leather gloves - no doubt scarred as well. His voice had lost the smoothness it used to have as well; as if his vocal cords were torn then melded again and again, but still recognisable.

"My apologies for this," he said as a matter-of-fact, "But I do not feel like putting up a glamour right now."

"_Eat everything on your plate, child; so you will grow big and strong and handsome like your father,_" _Frigga said._

"_But... I don't like carrots,_" _said Loki, grimacing._

"_And girls do not like small boys. Do you want to be as small as you are now when you are your fathers age?_" _An eye filled with fear flashed at Frigga, before he started stuffing the vegetables into his mouth._

His eyes -pale green ones, not the jade he used to have - flashed over to him and the All-Father for a moment as if saying _Do you like what you see?_

_**It wasn't me, brother! **_he thought back, despairing, hoping that the message reached Loki.

What remained of the Trickster's lips trembled as they were pulled into a smirk.

"Now, I'm sure you have some other reason to come here, not only to have this heartfelt reunion..."

Stark snorted.

"So let's begin. What do you want?"

"Cease this madness, Loki. I know what will happen if you don't. The Midgardians saw it centuries ago."

"Let me guess; the destruction of Asgard? Thor, I'm far beyond the point where that reason would have effect on me," Loki said, tapping on a book impatiently.

"See, I told you," spoke up Tony, "The guy haven't changed as much as you claimed. He is still the same selfish bastard with god-complex and..."

Green energy surged forward wrapping itself around the Iron Man's mouth.

"I believe you weren't given space to speak."

"Laufeyson," snapped the All-Father. Thor felt his heart sank a bit deeper, "We came here under hopes that peace can be arranged."

"Peace?" Loki hissed like a snake, "You have thrown away all your chance for peace a few thousand years ago, remember? When you put me into that cursed place after I saved your bloody throne and you decided I wasn't useful anymore! If it wasn't for Hela..."

"Hela? Queen of the dead?" asked Banner in shock.

"The same."

"But... She's just a myth," said Thor, uncertain. Loki laughed.

"Oh, she is very much existing. And she's fed up with the lot of you."

"So you have become a spawn once more," spoke Odin.

"A spawn? Aye, I might have. But if that's the price to destroy _any_ of you, so be it."

"You really don't care, do you?" asked Romanoff. "Millions will die, yet you are..."

"Now, that did not stop me before, did it?" asked the ex-prince, giving the a toothy smile, "Besides; you, my dear Spider, are dead, and so are your companions. Hence, no harm done."

"And what about those still alive, in every sense of the word? The newborns? The women and men and children who are innocent, they just want to live?"

"They just want to live?" he repeated in a mocking tone, "That was what I wanted to do as well, for millennias; I was screaming for somebody come to help, and I'll be good and gone, I won't stir any more waters; yet they left me to die only to be revived come the morning. For years."

"You deserved it."

"According to who? You? Please. You have just as much blood on your hands as I do. And yet you want to be the one to tell me that I was a bad, bad child and man. Or the All-Father? He killed the innocent as well and stole babes," his eyes were blazing red, "All in the name of the greater good. Thor? I presume he did not tell you how he had managed to start a war because he cannot tolerate being called a princess."

"It's not the same."

"Oh, you are right. I have forgotten. When it comes to Loki, it's _never_ the same! He cannot have a reason to do something! He's just a beast, feasting on chaos and misery. Wasn't that what your Councilman said at the court before you threw me into that cave, to justify all of it?"

"Guard your tongue," said the All-Father in an icy tone.

"You are no longer giving orders to me, old fool. You have denied me as your son, you've denied me as an Asgardian; you're no longer my king."

He turned, striding back to his desk.

"Peace, you shan't have. There will be a battle, come the morrow."

Odin went rigid, before marching out of the tent, followed by the Avangers.

"Thor?" asked the archer, realising the the Thunderer didn't follow. Thor shook his head. Clint shrugged and left the tent.

"If you did not wish for peace, why did you agree on the meeting?" Loki was silent for a moment.

"I wanted to see if he has even a drop of regret."

"And if he would have?"

"I might have considered to spare the city itself."

"Brother?"

"Yes?" Loki still would not face him.

"You do not have to do this."

"You know nothing, Thor. Not about me, not what I went through. Nor about the one whose command I follow."

"Maybe. But I know that you do not want to do this... Not all of you, at least."

Loki rasped a laugh.

"All the good that does to us."

* * *

The sun rose more red then Thor had ever seen it.

No wonder; half an hour into battle and the blood had already transformed the plain into a red ocean.

Sif held Fandrall in her arms as he died, after taking a blow for her.

"Sif!" he yelled, "You have to move!" Thor grabbed her hand, which he wrenched Thor.

"Leave me be!" she hissed, "I can take care of myself!"

And there was fire _everywhere_.

"Thor!" Stark yelled landing beside him, "I do not want to sound like a crow, but things are going downhill."

"I'm aware," he snarled, ducking from a jet of flame. The fire giant screeched in annoyance.

He heard Tony gasp, before feeling the gauntlet's fingers tapping his shoulders.

"What..." he started.

A wolf.

An enormous hel-wolf, tearing through the battlers without the slightest problem.

_Fenrir_, the word echoed in his mind. The very same beast the Asgardians locked up (_He's just a beast, feasting on chaos and misery..._) long before he was born.

He lifted his hammer, but the All-Father was faster than him.

And met his end.

A hand was still hanging out from the monster's mouth when it turned, snarling at the challenger whom Thor could not see.

Two familiar voices roared behind him and steel sang as sword clashed on each other.

Loki and Heimdall was dancing around each other, out for blood, while the younger once-Asgardian was spating insults at the gatekeeper.

And then the Watcher lost his footing and fell, with Loki upon him. Neither of them rose again.

The world seemed to turn around Thor as the Iron Man screamed at him to move, before a flaming spear ran through his suit and the man inside, before it was devoured by something long and slimy.

Jormungard, the World Snake.

_When Ragnarök rages, the monsters of your nightmares come out to play._

This will be the last one, he knew, as he smashed the beast's nose, feeling a poisonous fang making it's way into his arm. Another swing of Mjöllnir, and it lay dead.

Nine steps and so did he.

* * *

"Loptr! Loptr! Wake up already!" he yelled, basically blasting the door open. The wolf-dog hybrid snarled in surprise, but as soon as he realised who he was, calmed.

The smaller boy cracked an eyelid.

"Hloridi. What do you want?"

"It's time! It's time!"

"Time for what?"

"The Telling! Woden is going to tell the story of the Last Days and Ragnarök!"

"So? He tells it every year."

"But never quite the _same _way. He always adds something to it."

"Hence it is not the original story."

"Who cares?" he said, throwing clothes at his brother. "Hurry up."

"You're seventeen years old, brother, and yet as excited to hear about how the world ended once as a four year old child at his first telling."

"And you are fourteen, yet you act like an old man who heard it too much."

"Ten is nine times more than I would like. If I wanted to, I could tell it myself, right now. It starts with Odin, the wise-fool king took a baby from..."

"Oh, shut up and get dressed or I'll leave you behind!"

Loptr laughed.

* * *

**My apologies for this story, but it just wanted to get out from my head.**

**Loptr, Hloridi and Woden are the reincarnations of Loki, Thor and Odin. Fate did not find him fit to become their father once more adoptive or no.**

**I'm not entirely satisfied with it; I wanted to add more flashbacks. Oh, maybe I'll edite it later.**

**The letter Thor sent to Jane is nothing interesting, just some begging to come back, and so on.**

**Also... You know nothing, Jon Snow Thor!**


End file.
